There are loads of exciting things are happening in the Music Dept in July, from the Summer Concert on Tues 4th July, to our new Glee Club starting this week, Big Blast tomorrow, a performance at Riverside House on Friday, Clifton Factor Auditions, Rock Assembly.

The Clifton Factor is open to pupils from all years – auditions are at 3.30PM on Wednesday 12th July. You will need to prepare one song to a backing track and can perform as soloists or duos.

As part of the development of the Clifton Orchestra there will be an oboe and bassoon demo on Wednesday 12th July for new Y7’s and Y8’s. Both the oboe and bassoon require vast quantities of dedication, so pupils who will be able to commit fully to learning these instruments are welcome.

You can also collect more information about instrumental lessons from anyone in the Music Dept – with opportunities to learn woodwind, strings, brass, drums, piano, guitar, singing.

We took the Y8 rounders team to Wath last night for their tournament. Every player was a credit to Clifton, they showed great sportsmanship and gave a very good account of themselves with the results. Won 2 drew 1 and lost 2. The girls have shown a real improvement from last year which was clear see tonight.

Last night we took our Athletics teams to Wath for a fixture involving all the major schools in Rotherham. Once more we were well represented at Year 7 and 8 and students who attended had a really nice evening.

A special shout out to Ben Robinson and Reece Seymour. Neither boy has represented our school this year and until I had a polite word with them during period 4 this afternoon neither were intending on changing this.

Both decided that they would come and have a go. They both entered the javelin with Reece finishing a credible 5th place and Ben an impressive 3rd. This encouraged both to have a go at the Discus. This time Ben was 3rd and Reece won the event. I really think this will do both boys confidence a lot of good so please make a fuss of them when you see them.

We had some other strong performances and it was nice to see the gap is closing in terms of the level of competition that our pupils are now starting to put up against other schools. We are not there yet but we are moving in the right direction.

Mr Griffin and Miss Harp visited Doncaster Athletic Club with Chad and Alex for the South Yorkshire Athletic Championships. The event was being used by many runners as a qualifier for English Schools and a time trial for potential GB entry so the talent was very high.

Alex made the final of the 1500m and did really well in a time of just under 6 minutes in a field of 13 runners. He showed determination and true spirit to keen going as the other athletes increased their lead away from him.

Chad ran in the 200m heats but sadly didn’t make the final but this was not the case for the 100m where due to true commitment right until the line, he secured the final place on offer in the final! He really did give his all and is the 9th fastest 100m runner in South Yorkshire. He was so thrilled to be in the final and we witnessed true sportsmanship by him making sure he shook hands with all runners.

Both boys were a credit to us as was a long day for them and they showed great spirit to cheer on others and not complain about the weather.